Parcel providers to expand in Asia
DHL is investing USD 175 million to build the DHL Express North Asia Hub at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport in Shanghai. According to a statement from DHL, the development of the North Asia Hub is part of DHL’s “hubs and spokes” regional air network strategy. “Hubs like Shanghai, are optimally positioned to reduce transit times and distances within the regions but also ensure that the region is better connected with the rest of the world. Shanghai will provide added flexibility for its customers with guaranteed Time Definite morning delivery for more major cities in North Asia.”
In an interview with Bloomberg, Jerry Hsu, DHL’s president of Greater China, said, “It’s the right location with the resources in the Yangtze River Delta and China’s economic growth.”
The facility at Pudong should be opened by the second half of 2010.
But TNT is taking a different approach in Asia. Rather than focusing solely on air freight for small parcel shipments in Asia, TNT is focusing on developing a road-based network to reduce costs of shipping parcels across Asia.
In a recent Reuters report, Onno Boots, TNT’s managing director for Southeast Asia, says TNT is seeking a niche between fast-but-costly air transport and slow-but-cheap sea freight, which accounts for about two thirds of the intra-Asia market.
TNT’s plan is to develop a road infrastructure in Asia as it has done in Europe.
